Teddy the Bear: A Short Story

Fun fact: I wrote a children’s story once. Back when I played The Sims 3 all the time, most of my characters were writers. It let me live vicariously through them during a time when I did not write as much. One of these characters wrote a series of children’s books called Tony’s Toys. Years later, I thought it would be fun to write a story about one such toy. So here it is! Enjoy!

Teddy was a light beige bear who sat on the shelf at the toy store for a very long time. He watched his friends come and go from the shelf, patiently waiting for his turn to find a home. He waited and waited, and just before he began to lose hope, Mrs. Frye walked down Teddy’s aisle. She was a plump, friendly-looking lady with long red hair and red painted lips. Following close behind Mrs. Frye was a little boy with red hair just like hers. He smiled wide as he eagerly looked at the stuffed animals he passed.

“Okay, Tony,” Mrs. Frye said, “you can pick out any one you want.” Her voice was just as friendly as her smile.

Tony picked up a giraffe Teddy knew as Jerry, but put him back down. Tony thought about getting Spike, a golden retriever, but decided not to. His eyes then found Teddy, the bear that had been waiting so long. Tony smiled wide again and picked the bear up. The boy looked into Teddy’s brown eyes for a moment, and then hugged Teddy tight. 

“This one!” Tony told his mother. “He’s so soft and perfect!”

Teddy’s heart leapt with joy as Mrs. Frye led Tony and his new friend to old Mr. Greyson at the cash register. Mr. Greyson owned the toy store, and as he rang up the bear, he couldn’t help but give them a smile.

“You found yourself a good bear, little boy,” the old man said. “This fella here is one of the best bears that ever came through here.”

Tony giggled as he held Teddy in his arms. “He’s going to be my best friend forever!”

Mrs. Frye and Mr. Greyson both laughed. The old man patted Tony on his head and said goodbye to Teddy as the family left.

Tony held onto Teddy the whole car ride home. Mrs. Frye even set a place for the bear at the dinner table. Tony and Teddy played outside until Mrs. Frye called them in for bedtime. Teddy waited on the toilet while Tony had his bath, and once the boy was all clean, he crawled into bed with his new best friend clutched in his arms. Mrs. Frye read them a story, and the two were fast asleep before it was over. Teddy dreamed of that day, reliving its great wonder all over again. Teddy the bear could not have been any happier.

Teddy woke up in the middle of the night. Someone was poking his cheek. He opened his brown marble eyes and saw a tall soldier with a shaved head and a smile. On the soldier’s chest was a grey shirt with “ARMY” written across it. He wore camouflage pants tucked into high black boots. 

“Who are you?” Teddy whispered softly so Tony would not awaken.

“I’m Sgt. Steve,” the soldier said. “Come on, buddy. I’ve gotta show you something.”

“Can’t I just stay here?” Teddy asked, snuggling closer to Tony.

“Sorry, kiddo. You have to meet some of Tony’s toys.” Sgt. Steve pulled on Teddy’s arm until the bear he came free.

“C’mon,” said Sgt. Steve, leading Teddy to the other side of the room.

There stood three toys, each smiling at Teddy. A small and green soldier, much smaller than Sgt. Steve, waved with one hand, the other holding a pair of binoculars of the same green. His feet were attached to a solid base, but Teddy was sure he moved around just fine. A big plastic elephant with a pink bow on her head waved with her trunk. Teddy was sure she was big enough for Sgt. Steve to ride. A square-jawed man in a red cape stood next to the elephant, his muscular body covered in a red suit with blue trunks and boots. Teddy knew he was a superhero; he had seen similar toys at the toy store. This one had nice black hair and was half as tall as the elephant.

“Guys, this is Teddy,” Sgt. Steve said to the trio. “Teddy, this is my little buddy Binocular Benny, but we all just call him Benny.”

Benny reach out and shook Teddy’s hand and said, “Hiya.”

“This is Ellie,” said Sgt. Steve, pointing to the elephant.

“Howdy, Teddy,” she said, shaking Teddy’s hand with her trunk.

“And this is Mega Mike,” Sgt. Steve said.

“How ya doin, buddy?” Mega Mike said, his handshake firm. 

“Hi everyone!” Teddy said, smiling to them all.

“Well, now that’s taken care of,” Sgt. Steve said, heading to the closet door, “You guys ready to head to the party?”

“What party?” Teddy asked. He didn’t know of any party. There had never been parties at the toy store.

“This one,” said Mega Mike as Sgt. Steve opened the closet door.

Inside was not Tony’s closet, but a room with colorful light flashing everywhere, loud music, and so many toys Teddy did not recognize. Tony’s toys walked in, but Teddy stood in his place, surprised. He quickly ran inside with a huge grin.

“How is this possible?” Teddy asked, looking around in wonder.

“Every kid’s closet is a secret entrance to this never-ending party,” Ellie explained. “You can come in here any time you want and there will be plenty of toys to hang out with. And the best thing is that the kids can’t hear or see any of this.”

“It’s totally kid-proof!” exclaimed Benny before hopping over to a group of little soldiers just his size.

“But what if a kid wakes up?” Teddy asked Mega Mike.

Mega Mike shrugged. “I don’t know. You just sense it.” He smiled again and flew off into the air, circling the giant sparkling light before landing by other superheroes.

“You’ll feel it when the time comes,” Ellie assured. She went off onto the dance floor and disappeared in the crowd.

“Have fun,” Sgt. Steve said, following after Ellie. He, too, become one with the crowd of dancing toys.

Teddy stood still for a moment, unsure of what to do. Part of him wanted to go back to Tony’s room and fall back asleep in his arms. But a larger part of him wanted to stay and dance and have a great time. He smiled and headed out to the dance floor too.

Teddy wiggled and grooved along to the beat of the songs, quickly tiring himself out. He broke away from the crowd and wandered until he found a plush squirrel handing out drinks from his station. Teddy took a seat, and the squirrel came over.

“Hey there, pal,” the squirrel said, talking very fast. “Haven’t seen you here before. You new?”

“Yeah, Tony picked me up today,” Teddy answered.

“Nice. I hear that Tony kid is a wonderful boy. So what’ll you have? Water? Juice? Milk? Oh wait! I know! You want honey. All you bears like honey, right?”

“Um, sure. Honey sounds good,” Teddy said, trying to keep up with the squirrel’s speed talking. The squirrel took off and was back sooner than Teddy could say “dance party”.

“Here ya go, buddy. A nice little pot of honey for the bear.”

Teddy looked down at the small pot. Its top was open, showing the golden goodness inside. But there was a problem: it was clearly not real honey.

“So how do I eat it?” Teddy asked, looking up to the squirrel.

“How do you eat it?” The squirrel then laughed. “It’s all about imagination, buddy bear! Just pretend it’s real and boom! It’s real!” The squirrel smiled wide and headed off to take of the other toys.

Teddy looked down at the honey, taking it in his hands, and thinking hard, “It’s real honey. It’s real delicious, sticky honey.”

He lifted the pot to his mouth, and soon glorious golden goo flowed down into his mouth. Teddy gulped it down and wiped his mouth, a huge smile on his face. The squirrel brought another, but this time Teddy took his time with it.

Tony’s toys came by after Teddy’s third pot of honey, each of them grinning.

“Enjoying yourself?” asked Sgt. Steven.

“So much!” Teddy rejoiced. “Thank you for bringing me here, guys!”

Something inside Teddy popped out of nowhere. He felt that he had to leave as soon as possible. Tony’s toys seemed to get the same feeling, and Teddy understood what it meant. The five of them made their way to the door and back into Tony’s room. They each went back to where they had been when Tony had fallen asleep, Teddy wrapping himself in Tony’s embrace. He fell asleep with a smile on his face and his tummy full of tasty honey.